An Unexpected Encounter

The auction house was no charity. It opened its doors to do business and make money, and as long as you didn't cut off its income, it was very friendly... Every normal transaction carried a mandatory five percent handling fee.

The auction house wasn't afraid of malicious listings, either. If you dared to put a copper ingot up for 1,000 gold, it would welcome you. It only held an auction item for a month at most, and if an excessive price kept it from selling, then sorry, but it had to charge you one percent of the total asking price. For 1,000 gold, that meant ten gold, and you had to pay it to get the item back. Of course, you could say you didn't want the copper ingot anymore, so where would it find you to collect the ten gold?

The auction house had a whole range of rules and methods for dealing with people who maliciously listed items at exorbitant prices. Never doubt the power of that organization, because doing so cut off its income... Never lightly test the consequences of cutting off someone's income. At best, you'd be blacklisted and lose access to the auction system forever... At worst, you could find yourself wanted and hunted down. It depended on how much you managed to anger those "honest merchants."

Aige walked toward Northshire in a cheerful mood. Days of tense fighting and questing had left him mentally weary. Though he had never been lazy, rest was necessary too. Knowing when to relax and when to exert oneself was the way of both scholar and warrior... And without a doubt, his best haven for rest was Milly's Grape Estate. It happened to be close to Stormwind City, and the route was relatively safe, making it an excellent destination. He hadn't seen her in days and missed her terribly...

For convenience, he had previously bound his Hearthstone to Goldshire. He could have returned there directly before heading north to Northshire, but the distance would have been much the same, so he simply set out on foot from Stormwind City...

Combatants traveled several times faster than ordinary people, so he made good time on foot. Along the way, he even took a shortcut through the forest, moving faster than some merchant caravans with wagons.

A familiar place, familiar soil, and surely a familiar person waiting for him. But why did the splendid carriage at the estate's gate look so familiar?

Aige concealed himself behind a large tree and watched the splendid carriage parked brazenly right at the gates of Milly's Grape Estate, carefully searching his memory...

"Got it! So it was that damned bastard?"

It didn't take him much effort to recall the carriage's original owner...

Of course it was familiar. It was all too familiar. So familiar that he had nearly lost his life... No! He had already lost it!

"Frank, long time no see. I've been meaning to find a time to get my revenge on you, but I didn't expect to see you again so soon!"

The young master almost spat the words softly through his throat. A mortal enemy! How could he forget?

Carl Frank could be said to be the true culprit behind the original Aige's death, the coldhearted young nobleman responsible for abandoning Aige's corpse in the wilderness. The hatred went without saying, but what was this spoiled heir doing at Milly's?... The great lord had a bad feeling!

He wanted nothing more than to storm in and kill his enemy on the spot. But reason told him he couldn't. If he really did that, even if he was a valuable mage, Stormwind City would never tolerate the presence of a "thug" who murdered nobles at will! Aige still had to make his way in the human kingdoms afterward, unless he was willing to join an evil force like the Scourge...

Carl had always been lustful. With his noble status, she was practically a local tyrant in Northshire. Whenever a girl caught her eye, she would find some way to get her. The vast majority of the girls she ruined came to no good end, and she was always thorough, leaving no loose ends.

But the woman wasn't ruled entirely by lust. After spending so long among nobles, whatever else she had failed to master, she had developed an exceptional eye for recognizing people's status. At least Aige knew she really did have good judgment and understood which women she could touch and which she couldn't.

The mistress of this place was someone she couldn't casually touch...

The mistress of Milly's Grape Estate was, of course, Milly. The young woman had inherited her father's business, along with his title of baron. Although it was the second-lowest rank of nobility-the lowest was knight, with duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron above it-and fell short of Carl's father's rank of earl, one couldn't forget that this woman held a noble title and owned a famous, highly sought-after estate. Carl, on the other hand, was ultimately only the child of an earl, with no hereditary title of her own, and didn't even count as a true noble... Unless she could inherit her father's title, which would have to wait until he died, and even then it would very likely be reduced by one rank.

It was perfectly fine to toy with a commoner woman, but wanting to touch a noblewoman with the title of baron was wishful thinking, beyond what she could manage. In fact, Carl didn't intend to toy with Milly as she did ordinary women, or harbor improper designs on her. Instead, she wanted to approach her, and ideally marry her!

She wasn't the only one. Many eligible men in Northshire had entertained thoughts of Milly to one degree or another.

The girl was young and beautiful, respectable in her conduct, held noble status, and owned a vast estate... She was eminently suited to be the lady of a noble household, its matriarch! So many people were pursuing her, and Carl was only one of them.

But she didn't dare come to her home and use force. She had only come to cultivate their relationship. If she was fortunate enough to marry her, then with her father's help, a noble title would be hers for certain, and she wouldn't have to wait bitterly for the title her father would leave behind when he died... More importantly, this vast grape estate surely produced a great deal. Marrying the young woman would be like marrying a mountain of gold.

Wouldn't what's hers be mine? If it were Carl, she wouldn't mind spending her spouse's money at all.

She had once been fortunate enough to meet Milly, and the young beauty had been very much to her taste, making her desire to have her all the stronger. Recently, in view of Carl's extravagance, her father had tightened her allowance, leaving her uncomfortable and feeling a sense of urgency. If she wanted to escape that predicament now, approaching Milly would surely be the quicker way. She believed in her own charm. Young and tall, she was a renowned beauty in their circle, and with the added prestige of her father's earldom, she believed that winning over a mere baron should be easy...

But she was destined to be sorely disappointed on this visit. From the first moment she walked through the door, she understood that she had come too late... Although there had been little talk in the streets, as soon as she saw Milly, her current hairstyle and Carl's extensive experience with women told her that Milly was no longer pure. Although many noblewomen were not particularly faithful, at least their reputations before marriage were still assured. Even if they were promiscuous, that came afterward...

Carl was disappointed, but she didn't fly into a rage on the spot, nor was she entitled to! Milly was free, not a servant in her household. Whether or not she had a man was her own business. Besides, she had openly worn her hair in a married woman's style, without hiding anything. There was no real problem, and it wasn't Carl's place to interfere.

So, representing their respective families, they merely exchanged a few pleasantries and signed an order for next quarter's supplies before Carl hurriedly took her leave... When it came to a woman who was already taken, Carl had plenty of other candidates; there was no need to hang herself on this one tree. After all, a vast dark forest still awaited her in Northshire.

It was evening by then, and the red sunset in the distance looked beautiful. Peering through the curtain hanging in the splendid carriage, Carl felt a little uneasy, though she didn't know why... Why did that sunset glow look so much like the color of blood?

Feeling somewhat restless, she tossed aside the handsome-looking knightly novel she had been reading for amusement. With her right hand, she felt for the small ebony cabinet by her feet and pulled it open, taking out a bottle of five-year-old wine that Milly had specially given her as she left. She fetched a luminous cup and prepared to drink alone... That damned mountain road kept the red wine in her cup sloshing, even with springs fitted to cushion the ride, just like her uneasy heart.

"Baa!"

A sound like a lamb bleating startled Carl, but she soon gave a self-mocking smile. What was there to be nervous about a lamb bleating? Honestly, what was wrong with her today? Nothing was going her way, and she felt completely out of sorts. If her ever-strict father found out, she would probably be in trouble.

Wait! A sheep? Northshire did raise sheep, but definitely not in this area. Where had the bleating come from? And it seemed to have come from her own carriage!

Something was wrong! Definitely wrong! By then, the carriage had gradually come to a stop. Carl violently swept aside the curtain, and the first thing she saw was a sheep, sitting where her family's coachman should have been...

Aige had been following the carriage for quite some time! His plan had been to wait until he left Elwynn Forest before taking his revenge. By then, he would already have gone far away, and no one would be able to do anything to him. But unexpectedly running into this bastard at Milly's Grape Estate made the great lord see red on the spot...

In his mind, the grape estate and his woman were his private garden, absolutely forbidden to others. As Carl's former follower, Aige the Coward knew better than anyone how she went about things. If she intended to make a move on Milly, then the great lord would have to bring his plan forward.

Carl was somewhat wronged in this instance, because she really hadn't planned to make a move on Milly, for the reasons already stated. In that respect, she was somewhat innocent. But where his own woman was concerned, what little reason Aige had possessed had long since vanished. Their grudge already ran deep enough that it was a matter of kill or be killed, and now, with a woman added to it...

"Carl must die! I've decided!"

Those were the words Aige had spoken through gritted teeth after watching Carl leave the estate and board her carriage!